I have a 3 year old trotter that sweats alot, trained today, the first trip breathing was good, didn't heat up went in 2:40. The 2nd trip he was at the 1/2 in 8, then he starts with heavy breathing and then he falls apart.Have changed his diet to High Fat High Fiber, calicum, magnesium, metobleeze. Ran his blood he was tying up.

You answered your own question... he's tying up. Everyone has their own remedies for this. Mine includes 20 minutes of groundwork first thing. Groundwork combines slow controlled exercise with stretching. Relaxes and focuses their mind, along with slowly warming up the muscles. Better than turning out. What usually happens when you turn one out? They go nuts, running around and getting all excited. Added bonus, groundwork does not require being stabled at a farm with paddock access. I also cool one out properly. Hand walking with 2 coolers so the blood keeps flowing through the muscles, flushing the lactic acid. There was a reason the old-timers did that. Throwing a hot horse in the stall with no cooler is a surefire way to seize one up. There's also nutrition, supplements (calcium/magnesium a must along with proper vitamins and minerals), and certain drugs that I'll leave to others to advise on.

These are remedies for the tying up, but keep in mind the tying up is a symptom of another problem. You need to figure out what that is.

Just re-read: you say he sweats a lot. Sounds like not fit or in proper condition. What kind of foundation did he get? Might also want to look into a thyroid problem.

Throwing a hot horse in the stall with no cooler is a surefire way to seize one up.

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Perhaps, but I strongly doubt it. Maybe if it was for the first time.

Over the past thirty years I have cooled out several hundred horses by going straight from the bath stall to the pasture (with a full water tank)or a stall with a five gallon pail of water, a bale of straw, and a bale of hay. As of today I have never had one colic or tie up. Of course this is what I have done with them since the day they were broke.

But it is hard to see how much distress they are in when they are at the other end of a 30 acre field kicking and playing.

Muscles cooling down too fast do not sufficiently flush the lactic acid. Over time the lactic acid builds up until eventually the horse shows obvious signs of tying up. That's when people decide to deal with it... and start coming up with all kinds of cockamamie reasons why it's happening. Cooling a horse out properly, right from the get go, would result in much fewer horses tying up. Keeping on top of lameness, nutrition, health, proper conditioning, and providing a stressfree environment are also important. I was taught to cool a horse down properly, and that's the way I'll continue to do it.

Turning one out allows the horse to move around and keep the muscles warm. My point was throwing one in the stall to stand. Constant movement is by far the best option for horses. Nine years ago my then 20 yr old mare spent the winter at a boarding facility with limited turn-out. She was stiff and arthritic all winter. The past 8 years she's been on 24/7 turnout... and doing great.

Subject got me thinking (uh oh). What would be your ideal set up for winter training? I guess mine would be a field with run-in for as much turnout time I could get. Some type of indoor area where I could walk them out after exercise without wind blowing on them. A heated barn, about 35 - 40 degrees, snug and draft free. I would jog/train, walk them in the indoor with no blanket. No bath. After 20 minutes of walking out, put in stall. No blankets whatsoever. When horse was completely cooled out, back outside... after lots of elbow grease brushing the dried sweat off. Haven't figured out how I would race one on that program, though. Horse would have a long coat, after the race would definitely need a bath. Only option would be to stay in the heated paddocked until 4 in the morning until they were dry and then ship home. One of the things I hate most about winter racing is that ship home. Putting a wet horse on the trailer.. how do you get around that unless they're clipped and blanketed?

I have not blanketed any of my horses yet, and still have not decided whether or not I even will this year. They all have nice long coats on them and have protection from the wind (run-in sheds) when they are turned out and are stabled at night out of the elements. They are all exercised indoors via the wheel, and no one is bathed afterwards, just a cooler if needed and then brushed off later in the day.

I am not giving them "soaking baths" post race now that the weather is so cold. I have been just sponging them off sparingly with some warm water (some alcohol added speeds drying) then scraping them well (first the "right" way and then against the grain to help them dry). Then I throw a cooler on them (I got these awesome dress sheet-style coolers made by Horseware that wick the moisture away from the body) until they are dry. Once dry, a little brushing back at home finishes the job. We are lucky to have a heated ship-in barn here where the horses can dry off and keep warm until it's time to go home....usually by the time the last horse has been raced, all the others are dry...so it just leaves the one that might need an extra layer for the trip home (only 15 minutes in the trailer).